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Saturday, March 7, 2015

Dunno how many people know about this but minors are discounted and infants exempted from paying Philippine travel tax. Philippine travel tax is paid by Filipino residents who wish to travel abroad and by certain Foreign nationals.

I actually came across this fact because of hours of googling details of our upcoming Malaysia trip and hence, ways to cut back expenses. Travel tax for passengers 12 and up is 1610 and it was such a waste to pay that amount for an toddler.

I was afraid the process would take a long time so I got the certificate yesterday since the in-laws house was only a few minutes away from the airport :). I was worried over nothing because the whole thing was done in less than 5 five minutes! Took longer to walk from the parking lot to the counter! Hahaha.. So here goes:

* Minors below 2 years old are exempted from paying travel tax provided they have the certificate, which u can get at the airport.*You can process it at the airport directly or in their head office in Makati near Makati cinema square, if you frequent that area.

* Children 2-12 pay the discounted travel tax of 800 or 810(sorry cant remember) so you still have a discount of 600 or so

* Based on our experience last 2012 when my youngest sister was only 12, they dont tell you to process it automatically so you have to make the initiative to do it.

*Age at the time of travel is the basis for the discount. In Reese's case, since he will only be One year and 10 months by the time we use the certificate, full exemption still applies to him.

* If, like me, you're worried that it'll eat up a lot of time on your departure date, you can process it ahead of time because it's valid for a year from the time of issue, for one time use only, meaning you have to surrender it and get a new one the next time you travel.

So here's the eezy breezy process to getting the certificate( we processed it at the airport):

1. Line up in counter 1 of the Travel tax counter and give the minor's passport. They will photocopy it and it will serve as the order of payment. Proceed to counter 2.

2. Pay the certificate fee of 200. Fee is 200 per certificate, so if there is more than one person availing of the discount or exemption, cough up more.